These 10 People Collectively Own 33 Million Acres, Or 1.5% Of All US Land

It is a well-known fact that when it comes to ownership of rental
properties in the US, Wall Street, and particularly Blackstone, has become the single largest landlord in the country. But what about undeveloped land? As summarized by Vizual-statistix,
according to The Land Report published by Fay Ranches, the top 100
owners of US land collectively have 33 million acres in their private
holdings. This equates to about 1.5% of all USA land – that
may seem like a small percentage, but it’s actually a massive area.
The chart below lays out the top 10 largest private landowners with the
areas of Puerto Rico, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C.
included for scale. As can be seen, all of the top 10 own a piece of the
USA that is bigger than Rhode Island, and five have a piece that is at
least as big as Delaware. John Malone, who is the largest land owner in
the country with 2.2 million acres, owns private property the size of Puerto Rico. Some additional perspective from The Land Report:

Investing in rural, undeveloped land
continues to be a popular strategy among the affluent, according to the
2013 Land Report 100, the latest annual survey and ranking of the
largest private landowners in the United States just published by The
Land Report and presented by Fay Ranches. Increasingly seen as a “safe
deposit box with a view,” acreages continue to be purchased by leading
landowners at solid rates. In 2012, the country’s top 100 landowners
cumulatively increased their private holdings by 700,000 acres to a
total of 33 million acres, nearly 2 percent of U.S. land mass.

Liberty Media Chairman John Malone and his 2.2 million acres under
ownership topped the Land Report 100 list, which focuses exclusively on
deeded acreage owned by individuals, families, family-owned companies
and family-controlled foundations and excludes leased and public lands.
Malone edged out Ted Turner, who currently possesses more than 2
million land acres. Rounding out the top five in order were: the
Emmerson family, Brad Kelley and the Irving family. The 2013 edition of
the Land Report 100 presented by Fay Ranches can be downloaded at http://fayranches.com/blog/2013/10/01/2013-land-report-100-sponsored-fay-ranches.

“It’s refreshing to continue seeing large landowners find value in
aggregating their land for conservation and agriculture purposes versus
parceling it out and developing it,” said land broker Greg Fay, founder
of Fay Ranches, which is sponsoring the Land Report 100 for the third
straight year and is a longtime supporter of the magazine. “Everyone at
Fay Ranches congratulates leading landowners for their commitments to
the land, to conserving our wild places and preserving our agricultural
heritage.”

This year saw a shake-up in the top ten as Stan Kroenke elevated his
position from No. 10 to No. 8 after his recent purchase of the historic
Broken O Ranch, described nationally as “one of the largest
agricultural operations in the Rocky Mountain West.” Kroenke also owns
the 540,000-acre Q Creek Ranch, the largest contiguous ranch in the
Rocky Mountains.

There are several landowners new to this year’s 100 list, including
No. 28, Dan and Farris Wilks, billionaire brothers who recently
purchased more than 400 square miles of land, mostly in the eastern half
of Montana. Oil field services entrepreneurs, the Wilks brothers own
the prized N Bar Ranch in Montana, which is known for its wildlife and
fishery resources. Another new addition to the Land Report 100 presented
by Fay Ranches is No. 96, Arthur Nicholas. The co-founder of Nicholas
Investment Properties owns Wyoming’s historic Wagonhound Land and
Livestock, an AQHA Ranching Heritage Breeder.

“America’s largest landowners continue to recognize land as a
compelling asset, one whose numerous attributes go well beyond ROI,”
said Eric O’Keefe, editor-in-chief of The Land Report. “It’s a story
you’ll see again and again in the Land Report 100, one that features
familiar faces and some new ones I’m sure readers will instantly
identify. ”

So here is how Bernanke's trickle down supposedly works: US
millionaires - rich in assets - become billionaires, increasingly buying
up US land, i.e., more assets, while everyone else, read the not so
wealthy, buy Made in China trinkets, purchased mostly on credit so
loading up on liabilities, i.e., debt.